Re: Exploding rodents ...
I assume you've never had a pet rabbit/hamster/gerbal/guinea pig/other rodent. I think you'd be surprised at the piercing ability of rodent teeth. It's not just about the hardness of the teeth but also the sharpness and the surface area combined to jaw muscle power ratio which is surprisingly high.
Armoured cables are in general intended to withstand strikes from tools and digging equipment, a spade driven by a human or a mechanical digger may be powerful but the power is spread over the whole surface of the digging implement.
Also I think in a lot of cases when builders damage armoured cable, it's not so much the initial impact that damages the cable but also the pulling and torsional stress as the digging implement tries to pull the cable out of the ground along with the surrounding earth. A squirrel on the other hand can't really apply much force to the cable as a whole.
Not to mention it has to be possible to cut the armour with something, otherwise how would you ever get the correct length of cable :)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
